


To Be Needed

by Lilachigh



Category: Abbey Girls - Elsie J. Oxenham
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1919208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilachigh/pseuds/Lilachigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wedding is over and Elizabeth Marchwood has to cope with the aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Be Needed

To Be Needed by Lilachigh

Elizabeth Marchwood crept through the dark tunnel down to the deepest secret place. She hardly needed the torch she carried - she’d known this route since childhood. 

“Put the light out!”

Her sister’s voice cut through the gloom, wild with hurt, thick with tears that broke Elizabeth’s heart. She clicked off the torch and reached out instinctively with her other hand to touch the top of Margaret’s head where she sat curled up on the damp stone floor.

“Is it over?”

“Yes. Everyone’s gone to the Manor.”

“What did Mother say?”

“That you had a dreadful headache and didn’t want to spoil things for them.”

“What - like standing up and shouting ‘you can’t marry him, he belongs to me!’

“Twin don’t! Andy never belonged to you. He’s our cousin. I love him, too.” But even as she spoke, she knew it wasn’t true. She was fond of all her Marchwood cousins but Margaret had always adored Andrew with a passion that Elizabeth didn’t fully understand.

“Why her? I mean, of all the girls we know - oh Twin, I can’t bear it! She’s so...so...”

“Very pretty!”

“Andy wouldn’t care about looks. At least, the Andy I love wouldn’t. She’s just not good enough for him!”

Elizabeth hugged her tighter, hurt by the dreadful pain only she could fully understand and share. Now wasn’t the right time to tell her sister that she’d overheard her mother saying exactly the same thing to their stepfather last night. But Ivor Quellyn, although not usually a man who understood the complexities of love, had replied with words that rang a clear bell.

“She’s small, delicate, very pretty with that lint blonde hair and she has this ability to make men want to look after her. And isn’t that what Andrew has done all his life? Looked after people? He doesn’t want a strong woman who can care for herself. He needs to be needed.”

Now, in the dark, Elizabeth felt her twin struggle for self control. “You go, Twin. We can’t both miss the party. People will talk. Maidie Rose knows somethings up and I suppose Jansy guesses.”

“You can’t stay down here alone. You’ll be ill again.”

Her twin laughed and it wasn’t a happy sound. “You’re right. The last thing I want is to be pitied. People saying I’m suffering from a broken heart.”

In the dark, Elizabeth felt her twin stand up - for a long second she clung to her sister, then pulled herself away. She would bath her eyes, change her grubby dress and shoes and walk through the shrubbery to the Manor as she had done so many, many times over the years. And she would kiss her cousin Andrew on the cheek and congratulate him and his new wife, the former Susan Edwards of Bell Farm.


End file.
